Proceedings of the ASME 2013 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition

IMECE2013
November 15-21, 2013, San Diego, California, USA

IMECE2013-66306

A Novel MEMS Device For Selective Surface Adsorption Of Lead (II) Ions From Blood Using
Carbon Aerogel

Deepan Kishore Kumar Adarsh Venkataraman Ganesan

BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Sundaram Swaminathan Niti Nipun Sharma Ravi Kant Mittal

BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Pilani, Rajasthan, India Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Abstract particularly the developing brain. Consequently, children are

In this paper, we propose to design, simulate and fabricate a
novel device design that would be capable of removing heavy
metal ions like Lead or Arsenic from the Blood serum. The
basic design of the device comprises of micro-needles at the
inlet and the outlet, followed by a micro-channel where is
blood is made to flow through a series of alternating
constrictions. Every constriction has a coating of Carbon
Aerogel to remove the Heavy metal ions like Pb. The design
also eliminates the need for a valve or a micro pump as we
ensure unidirectional flow by having fewer needles at the
outlet as compared to the inlet and be placed in two regions of
differential pressure. The present device (with surface
dimensions of 100 x 150 x 75 microns) allows for blood
filtration at the rate of 62.55 ml per week. Since the device has
a slow filtration rate, multiple such Point-of Care device
would be worn by the affected patients.
1. INTRODUCTION
Lead is a systemic toxicant affecting virtually every organ
system, primarily affects the central nervous system,
at a greater risk than adults of suffering from the neurotoxic
effects of lead. The most common type of heavy metal
poisoning is from lead. People used to come in contact with
the metal regularly, from the paint in their houses to the
constituents of their pencils.
The device functions without the need for micro-fluidic
pumps, as the device would mounted on the skin, with an
array of micro-needles (250 microns in length), that remove
blood directly from the veins and feed it to a micro-channel
with alternating constrictions. This arrangement of alternating
constrictions enable maximum mixing of the blood and also
maximizes the probability of the heavy metal ions coming in
contact with the walls of the micro-channel. The walls of the
micro channel are coated with "Cabon-aerogel" as a surface
adsorbent for removing lead ions form the blood.
When the blood flows through this micro-channel containing
walls coated with the surface adsorbent , the toxic heavy
metal ions, like Lead(II) are removed. This filtered blood is
fed back into the veins from another site. This injection of
purified blood is again achieved via the help of micro-needles.

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The proposed design eliminates the need for a pump to increase
the fluid flow speed inside the device, because we exploit the
Bernoulli's Principle to increase the flow speed by decreasing
the flow area. This translates to, a larger number of micro-
needles at the inlet of the device and fewer number of micro-
needles at the outlet of the device. This arrangement ensures
that the blood is injected into the veins without causing
backflow or intermixing. The device also has one-way valves
at the inlet and outlet to ensure that the intermixing of filtered
and unfiltered blood does not happen.
1.1 Bernoulli's Principle
We exploit Bernoulli's principle which states that for
an inviscid flow, an increase in the speed of the fluid occurs
simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a decrease in
the fluid's potential energy. This change in pressure is
incorporated in our design by changing the effective cross-
sectional area. The cross sectional area of each micro-needle is
2827.433 micron2. At the input we have modeled for simplicity
just 4 needles giving an effective cross-sectional area of
11309.733microns2.
The simple form of Bernoulli equation: + + =
Where;
v is the velocity of flow
g is acceleration due to gravity
z is the height above reference plane.
p is the pressure of flow
is the density of fluid
By increasing cross sectional area we are effectively reducing
the pressure of fluid flow and increasing it at the outlet. This
system ensures that there is no backflow and eliminates the
need for a pump or valve.
Fig. 1. The Inlet Micro-Needles and the Outlet micro-needle.
2 Copyright 2013 by ASME
1.2 Probability of Contact & Mean Free Path
The design also incorporates another innovative way to
maximize the adsorption of Heavy metal ions by maximizing
the contact time of the fluid with the Carbon Aerogel coating.
The mean free path is the estimated using the Kinetic Theory.
Serway's approach is used to model the scenario in the Blood
filter chip. The formula = ()!! still holds for a particle
with a high velocity relative to the velocities of an ensemble of
identical particles with random locations. If, on the other hand,
the velocities of the identical particles have a Maxwell
distribution, the following relationship applies: =
( 2)!! and it may be shown that the mean free path, in
!! !
meters, is: =
!!! ! !
where kB is the Boltzmann constant in J/K, T is the temperature
in K, p is pressure in Pascals, and d is the diameter of the
particles in meters. By decreasing the mean free path length we
ensure a maximal probability of collision of the Lead ions
species with the walls of the filter chip.
Fig. 2. Blood Filter device
1.3 Laminar to Non-Laminar Transition
By increasing the number of constrictions we can increase the
Reynolds number of the flow creating non-homogeneous
stream lines and thus slightly increasing the Reynolds Number
(measure of the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces and
consequently quantifies the relative importance of these two
types of forces for given flow conditions). The equation
representing the Reynolds Number is:
where:
is the mean velocity of the object relative to the fluid (SI
units: m/s)
 is a characteristic linear dimension, (travelled length of the the volume flow rate at node 2; where ! is the pipe element
fluid; hydraulic diameter when dealing with river systems) (m) length, ! is the diameter of pipe element. Thus we have the
Finite Element Model
is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid (Pas or Ns/m or !! 1 1 !
!
!!
! ! ! !! = ! !!
kg/(ms)) 128 ! 1 1 ! !
!!!!
The constant ! = is the Needle resistance.
!"# ! !!
is the kinematic viscosity ( ) (m/s)
2.1 Micro Needles Design
is the density of the fluid (kg/m)
Blood vessels are typically present in the dermis at a depth of
150-3000 m from the skin [6]. Accordingly, the micro-needles
2. FLOW ANALYSIS IN MICRO NEEDLES have been designed for 250m length. To minimize skin
As discussed previously the flow in the micro-needles has a resistance and insertion pain, a wedge shaped tip has been used
Poiseuille flow regime. We consider blood as a viscous in the design. The range of the diameters of the blood
incompressible fluid. corpuscles is from 2 m (platelets) to about 15m (monocytes)
[6]. Hence, to facilitate the passage of blood corpuscles, the
circular cross-section of the in-plane micro-needle is chosen to
be 30m. The schematic of micro-needle is as shown in the
figure 2. To increase the biocompatibility and the strength of
micro-needles, PEGDA and Ni coating are applied [7].

Fig. 3. Flow through Micro-Needle

The velocity of fully developed laminar flow of Micro-needle

is given by [7]:
1
! = (1 (2 )! ) (2)
4
!"
where is the pressure gradient causing the flow.
!"

Consider the below representation of a discrete element [7].

Figure 5: Schematic of the micro-needle

Fig. 4. Discrete Element of the Micro-Needle The flow rate for blood can be approximated to
= (^4)/(128 )

!" where, d is the inner diameter of the micro-needle in m; Q is

The relationship between Q and is given by: the flow rate in m3/s; P is the pressure drop across the
!"

! microneedle in Pa; is the viscosity of fluid for blood at 37C

= in Pa-s; and L is the length of the micro-needle [8]. Blood
128 (3) Pressure Difference is = 36.7 kPa. Substituting, L = 250
m and d = 30 m in the equation (1), we get Q = 0.3634 L/s.
the negative sign indicates the flow is in the direction of To verify the results, laminar flow simulation was also carried
negative pressure gradient. We obtain, out. The figure 2 shows the velocity magnitude of blood flow.
!!!! The results are in correlation with the theoretical results.
!! = (!! !! ) (4)
!"# ! !!
Therefore, for the contact time = 2.75 s, ~ 1 L (i.e., 1 cubic
the volume flow rate at node 1 and mm) of blood can be collected and can be made available to
!!!!
!! = (!! !! ) flow through the micro-channel.
!"# ! !!

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 3. ADSORPTION ANALYSIS

The rate of adsorption of a molecule onto a surface can be

expressed in the same manner as any kinetic expression : i.e. If
the rate constant is expressed in an Arrhenius form, then we
obtain kinetic equations of the form :

Rads = A C x exp ( -Ea / RT )

where Ea is the activation energy for adsorption, and A the pre-

Fig. 6. Side View of the blood filter
exponential (frequency) factor. It is much more informative,
however, to consider the factors controlling this process at the
molecular level. The rate of adsorption is governed by the rate
of arrival of molecules at the surface and the proportion of
incident molecules which undergo adsorption i.e. we can
express the rate of adsorption (per unit area of surface) as a
product of the incident molecular flux, F , and the sticking
probability , S .

[molecules
Rads = S . F
m-2 s-1 ]

Combining the equations for S and F yields the following

expression for the rate of adsorption :
Fig. 7. The flow profile near the constrictions
The following Partial Differential Equations are solved to get
the velocity profile for the blood in the channel.
! !
. = . [ + + . ]
!
Carbon Aerogels are composed of particles with sizes in
the nanometer range, covalently bonded together. They have
Where p is the pressure at the inlet, is the density of the blood, very high porosity (over 50%, with pore diameter under
is the dynamic viscosity of the blood and I is the Identity
100 nm) and surface areas ranging between 4001,000 m2/g.
Matrix of order n.
The following boundary conditions are applied at the inlet and The percent heavy metal removal was calculated using Eq. (a)
the outlet.
= ! Metal ion removal (%) = ! ! 100/!
!
+ !
. = 0 ! : Initial Metal Ion Concentration of Blood
!

The basic concept behind spontaneous adsorption is that Sample. mg/l

adsorption occurs when more energy is released than gained ! : Final Equilibrium Concentration of Blood Sample. mg/l
according to Gibbs law of free energy.
This is seen in the equation: The equilibrium constants and thermodynamic parameters for
the adsorption of heavy metal ions on Carbon Aerogel are as
follows;
!"# = !"# !"# < 0
For Pb ions at 30 degrees centigrade
where ads is net change of the parameters, G is Gibbs free Ke = 1.2
energy, T is the temperature (SI unit: kelvin), S is = -0.56
the entropy (SI unit: joule per kelvin), H is the enthalpy (SI unit: = 0.073
joule). In order for the adsorption to occur = 21.7
spontaneously, adsG must be a negative number.

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The adsorption kinetics of heavy metal ions on carbon Aerogel adsorptive removal of heavy metal ions under optimized
follows first order rate expression is given by Lagergren and conditions of dosage 10 g/l for aqueous solutions containing 3
Svenka: mg/l metal ions in 48 h.

!!" ! References
!" (! )= !" !
!.!"!
where
[1] S. Manahan, Environmental Chemistry, Book/colei
! = (! ! )V/m
California, USA, 1984.
!
The initial adsorption kinetic coefficient is also [2] M. Sitting, Handbook of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals,
!"!
computed as follows: Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ, 1981, pp. 119120, 185
186.
!" !
=
!" !!! [3] B. Volesky, Biosorption of Heavy Metals, vol. 24, CRC
press, Boca Raton, FL, 1992, pp. 1314.
with t tending to 0, V is the volume of the solution, m the
weight of carbon Aerogel. Pb(II) has a Adsorption rate [4] A.K. Meena, G.K. Mishra, K. Satish, C. Rajagopal, P.N.
constant !" (10!! ) of 11.44 and initial adsorption Nagar, Adsorption of cadmium ions from aqueous solution
coefficient (1/mg min) of 0.04271 The adsorption studies are using different adsorbents, Indian J. Sci Ind. Res. 63 (2004)
performed using various isotherms like the Freundlich 410416.
isotherm. The Freundlich equation is given by:
[5] D.C. Barrell, Atomic Spectrophotometer Analysis of Heavy
!/!
= ! ! Metals Pollutants in Water, Ann Arbor Science Publishers Inc.,
Ann Arbor, MI, 1975, p. 25.

In logarithmic terms it is: [6] A. KabataPendias, H. Pendias, Trace Metals in Soil and
Plants, CRC press, Boca Raton, FL, 1992, pp. 7586.

[7] S.J. Banum, Introduction to Organic and Biological

The Langmuir Equation is given by : Chemistry, third ed., Macmillan Publishing Co., New York,
NY, 1982, p. 541.

[8] U. Soffioti, J.K. Wagoner, Occupational Carcenogenesis,

New York Academy of Science, 1976, p. 271.
or,
[9] N. Serpone, E. Borgarello, E. Pelizzti, Photoreduction and
photodegradation of inorganic pollutants, in: M. Schiavello
(Ed.), Photocatalysis and Environment, Kluwer Academic,
With Langmuir and Freundlich constants given by: Dordrecht, 1988, p. 527.

[10] C. Namasivayam, K. Periasamy, Bicarbonate treated

Langmuir Parameters Freundlich Parameters
peanut hull carbon for Hg(II) removal from aqueous solution,
a=0.75 Ke = 1.0381 Water Res. 27 (1993) 16631668.
b=1.880 n =1.1930 [11] A.K. Krishnan, T.S. Anirudhan, Removal of mercury(II)
2
R = 0.9907 2
R = 0.9965 from aqueous solutions and chlor-alkali industry effluent by
steam activated and sulphurised activated carbons prepared
RL=0.1503 - from bagasse pith: kinetics
and equilibrium studies, J. Hazard. Mater. 92 (2002) 161.
Future Work and Conclusion
The next stage of our research involves the MEMS Fabrication [12] F. Berglund, M. Bertin, Chemical Fallout, Thomas, Spring
using Lithography techniques. Further analysis needs to be field, IL, 1969.
done to optimize the dimensions based on the desired filtration
rate. Our initial findings are very promising for the completion
of our research project. Carbon Aerogel showed nearly 100%

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